Deception
by KymberlyBlack
Summary: Olivia Kade has been with RCPD for two years, but she has never seen anything like this. Mutilated corpses keep popping up in the isolated Arklay Mountains, the work of a possible serial killer, or something much more sinister and terrifying? With the help of her childhood friend Chris Redfield she will follow the bloody trail all the way back to it's source.


**I know I have a lot of other stories going on, but I can't seem to find inspiration for them at the moment. But this one, this little monster wouldn't leave me alone. So let me know what you all think. R.R.E.**

"Hey Chris, don't you know her?" Jill asked as she leaned over Chris's shoulder and picked up the departmental memo sitting on his desk.

"Huh, what?" Chris asked, turning his head away from his computer screen to see what she was talking about.

"Olivia Kade, she just made detective," Jill said, reading the small blurb.

"Came up with them, that's Owen's little sister," he said, scanning the article.

"That's right! Wow, good for her."

"That's what we call nepotism ladies and gentlemen," Barry grinned as he walked into the STARS office, coffee in his hand.

"Better not let Owen hear you say that," Chris warned.

"Seriously? She's on the job for what, two years and get's the bump to detective? Not to mention she's been transferred to Homicide now, where her brother is the Captain. You're right, nothing suspicious there."  
Jill shook her head and Chris remained silent.

"And...big brother just tossed her the lead on the murders out in the sticks."

"He's sounds awfully jealous. Are you jealous Barry?" Jill goaded him.

He sat down at his desk and leveled his eyes with them.

"No! I'm not jealous. I'm just saying it's shit, that's all."

Chris nodded his head at his old friend.

"You're with me on this, right Chris?"

"Yeah. Sure. Not jealous. Got it," Chris grinned out before turning back to his reports.

_~Olivia's POV_

"Fuck."

The stench rolling off the corpses was enough to bring vomit to the back of my throat.

"How long have they been deceased?" I asked, once I had control of my faculties.

"Two, maybe three days tops. Multiple bite wounds, some look human, some not. I'll be able to tell you more once we get them back and cleaned up."  
"We're pretty far off any hiking trails, any ideas as to why they would be out here?" I asked, looking over at the park ranger.

"Natural hot springs all over this part of the mountain, sometimes people slip away for some hot nooky."  
"Been having any problems lately in this area?"

He looked at me like I grew a second head.

"What kind of problems?"

"Complaints of vagrants, people making other hikers uncomfortable, things like that," I offered.

"No, nothing along them lines. Most complaints out here have to do with the local wildlife. Wolves been acting real out of sorts. Coming closer to the camp grounds then usual."

"Do you think someone could be disturbing their natural habitat?"

He rubbed his chin while he thought.

"Have to be an awful lot of people, wolves don't tend to scare easy."  
"Alright, thank you for your help Ranger Wellman, let me know if anything else comes up, or anything out of the ordinary happens," I shook his hand and gave him my card.

I walked with forensics as they collected their samples and helped the coroner load the three bodies. I checked my phone for messages but discovered their was no cell service in this isolated area of the Arklay Mountains. I sighed and got into my black suburban, ready to make the forty five minute drive back to Raccoon City proper.

"What the hell happened out there?" my brother accosted me as I opened the door to my vehicle.

"Not sure, the bodies were left to the elements and the local wildlife so it was hard to tell anything distinct at the scene. Tenner seems to think some of the bites on the victims look human."

I watched as my brother ran a hand over his face. His blue eyes looked bogged down. He was tired.

"Why don't you call it a night? Go home, have dinner with Cassie and the kids."

"I would love to do that, but right now I have to deal with the media circus out there. And the mayor is breathing down my neck."

"Let the Lieutenant handle it."

"Just...solve this one quick okay? Fucking creeps me out," he sighed.

"You and me both."

"You coming over Saturday for the barbeque?"

"Barring any more murders, you bet."

He smiled and I smiled back. We walked into the station, idly chatting about Saturday and the festivities.

~_Two days later_

I was back in the woods, staring at a similar scene. This time it was just one hiker.

"Talk to me Tenner," I said as I walked around the scene, leaves crunching under my booted feet. I had seen female detectives make the mistake of trying to walk scenes like this in heels. It was not pretty. I had a spare set of tennies and boots in my vehicle for just such occasions.

"Too early to tell, the ME's report hasn't come back on the other two, but I don't think it's going out on a limb to say these killings are connected. We have several bite marks on the victim, the fatal one being here, it severed the carotid artery, victim bled out in minutes. Lack of blood flow, no pooling indicates most of these bites were inflicted postmortem."

"Why keep biting if the vic is dead?" my partner asked. I shrugged.

"Maybe they were in some sort of...frenzy."

He nodded, walking over so he stood next to me. Keith Garret had thirty years on the force, twenty of them in homicide. He was only fourteen months away from retirement.

"Get dental impressions, of all the wounds. Maybe we have more than one murderer here," I said as stepped back.

"Good thinking," Garret commented.

"Thanks."

"Kid," he said, grabbing my arm, stopping me in my tracks. I turned to look at him. "This kind of case, it's tough. Especially for someone so new."

I nodded my head, listening.

"Isn't really any easier when you get older, come to think of it. What I'm trying to say is, I'm retiring soon, and that means all this shit will fall on you. Solved, unsolved. It doesn't matter to me, my career is done. But you're just getting started."

"What are you saying Keith?"

"I'm saying lets do some of the best detective work RCPD has ever seen and find this son of a bitch. I go out with a bang, you start out with one."

I smiled at him.

"No arguments here," I agreed.

"Good, now get me out of this cold. My bones are aching."  
I smiled and unlocked my SUV.

_At RCPD-_

"What the hell is going on?" my brother pulled Garret and myself into his office the moment we stepped foot back in the bull pen. I had a flashback to two days prior.

"Won't know until all the reports come back, but it appears the two cases are linked," Garret answered.

"Linked?" my brother snapped.

"Same MO Owen. Secluded location, no obvious signs of robbery or sexual assault, multiple bite wounds."

"Mother fu...I just finished reassuring the mayor that this was an isolated incident."

"I think we have a serial killer on our hands Owen. Everything is syncing up."

He walked around his desk and past us to shut the door.

"Not one more word until the ME's reports come back. If the press catches wind of this..."

"Not a problem Captain, we'll..."

"I think we should inform STARS," I cut Garret off.

"What!? Did you not just hear me Olivia?"

"I did, but STARS is.."

"No. This goes no farther than this room Liv. Besides, Irons is an asshole."

Couldn't contradict him their, but still.

"Liv, I want your word on this. You keep this to yourself, until I tell you otherwise, yes?"

I stared at him for a few moments before nodding my head.

"Good. I want your reports, first thing in the morning."

We filed out of Owen's office, closing the door as we did so.

"Got bats in your belfry girl?" Garret hissed once we moved over to our desks.

"You trying to tell me you don't think there are more victims out there?"

Garret didn't say anything.

"That's what I thought. STARS could help. They've rescued dozens of lost and stranded hikers from those mountains. They train out there. They could help us make a grid, find more victims, maybe flush this monster out."

"That's a mighty fine idea, but think about it from you brother's perspective. He's the one who has to justify all the overtime to the committee, he takes the heat from the mayor, from the chief of detectives, from the press and media. We don't have any solid proof that there are any more bodies, and we don't even have the evidence to prove that the cases are linked."

I sighed, knowing Garret was right. But I could feel it in my gut, something terrible was going to happen. And soon.

"Chris! Hey Chris!" I shouted as I ran through the parking garage.

"Hey Liv, what's up?" he asked when I finally caught up to him.

"I have something I want to run by you, want to grab a beer or something?" I asked. His brown eyes locked with my glacier blue ones.

"Alpha and Bravo were going to hit up Mickey's Tavern for some drinks.."

"It's...I have to be discreet. I'm not even supposed to be telling you any of this," I said, looking around a little nervously. Chris picked up on my nervousness and nodded.

"Yeah, why don't we ride together. We can talk on the way over?"

I nodded and followed him to his truck. Once inside, I began talking. He listened intently as he drove us out of the parking garage. When we pulled up to Mickey's, he parked and turned off the engine, but he didn't get out. I handed him over the files, let him look through mine and Garret's reports, the crime scene photo's.

"Autopsy reports?" he asked.

"Not back yet."

He nodded and kept reading.

"I think you're right," he said finally. "But why come to me?"

"I tried to convince Owen to let me bring STARS in on this. You guys know the Arklay mountains like the back of your hand. That kind of knowledge will save us time and energy. Not to mention it might save lives in the future."

"He shot you down?"

"Yeah. Said Irons was an asshole and that I didn't have enough evidence, and to keep my mouth shut until we had all our eggs in a basket."

"But you didn't," Chris smiled at me.

"No. I thought maybe I could pick your brain, you could help me with," I reached down and pulled out a few maps of the Arklay Mountains I had just picked up. "Reading these. Show me where the access roads are, the most popular trails versus the most secluded."

Chris gave me a small smile.

"I'll help you, but first, we're going to go in there one at a time and have a drink."

"Why?"

Chris shook his head.

"It's the local spot for cops, so it won't be obvious if we are in the same place at the same time. Your brother isn't an idiot Liv. If he hears about you spending time with me, he's going to put two and two together. So we go in separate and I'll offer to give you a ride home. We'll go back to my place, I'll order a pizza and we can work on setting up search grids."

I nodded my head, smiling. I knew it was a good idea to come to Chris.

"Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome. Ladies first."

I nodded and opened the truck door. I looked around and not seeing anyone, slipped out. My heels clicked as I walked across the asphalt. I opened the door to Mickey's and stepped inside.

Truth be told I was not a fan of this place. But I had spent considerable amounts of time in it when I was a rookie walking a beat.

"Livy!" I smiled as Jade came from behind the bar to greet me. "Been a long time sweetheart."

She pulled me to her for a hug and then pushed me back at arms length to get a look at me.

"I heard you got your detectives shield," she beamed. "Good for you baby."

"Thanks."  
"Get you the usual?"

"I'm on call, so..."

"A coke it is."

She smiled and walked back behind the bar. I looked around, seeing a lot of faces from work, but nobody I knew. I slid onto a stool and a few seconds later the door opened up and in walked Chris. His crew bellowed out his name, and he grinned and took a seat with them. I thanked Jade for the coke as she set it down. The door opened again and in walked Captain Albert Wesker, leader of the STARS units. Tall, broad shouldered, blonde and handsome, a lot of woman around the precinct talked about the Captain.

"Honey, could you watch the bar, I need to use the restroom," Jade asked. I nodded and got up from my stool to come around the bar.

This brought back memories. I use to be a waitresses slash bartender here when I was sixteen.

"Bourbon, no ice," I looked up at the deep masculine voice to see Captain Wesker seated in front of me.

"Coming up," I replied and turned to grab the bourbon off the top shelf. Call it professional courtesy.

I poured him the snifter of bourbon and set it down on a napkin.

"I didn't realize the detective salary was so low," he said as he caught sight of the silver badge clipped to my hip.

"Just minding the bar for a friend," I explained.

"How very generous of you," he commented.

"You have no idea," Jade winked at him as she approached us. "Thank you honey."

"No problem."  
My phone buzzed and I looked down to see I got a text.

_"Getting friendly with my Captain?"_

I looked up to see Chris's eyes on me. I quickly text back a response.

_"Not particularly."_

He nodded once when he got it and went back to conversing with his friends. I walked back around the bar and took up residence on my stool once again.

"Why come to a bar at all if you are not going to have a real drink?" Captain Wesker asked me after several silent minutes.

"Nostalgia," I responded. My phone ringing made me jump.

"Kade," I answered.

_"Just making sure you aren't doing anything stupid," _my brother responded.

"Nope, just having a coke at Mickey's," I informed him.

_"That's a rough neighborhood Liv," _he reminded me.

"I'll be fine," I assured him.

_"Alright, call it an early night. You have a lot of shit to do tomorrow."_ And he hung up on me. I didn't have long to think about it as Chris chose this time to come over. He pretended like he didn't notice me at first, coming between myself and Captain Wesker to order more drinks.

"Captain," he said, his head turned away from me.

"Chris," Captain Wesker said back.

Chris turned his head my way and then did a double take.

"Olivia!" he boomed and then pulled me to him in a impromptu hug. I almost fell off the stool with the force of it.

"Hey Chris, been awhile."

"Yeah, hey I heard you made detective, congrats."

"Thanks."

"I'm just going to bring these over to the table, I'll be right back. We can catch up." He didn't leave me time to respond.

I caught Captain Wesker looking at me out of the corner of his eye. When he realized he was caught, a small smile played across his face, before he lifted his glass to take another drink. Before I had time to even really process that, Chris was back, pulling a stool closer to me and effectively putting himself between us.

We chatted about mindless stuff for about forty five minutes before I yawned.

"This was fun Chris, but it's late and I'm getting tired," I said, looking at him so he would know I was lying.

"How'd you get here?"

"Caught a ride with Garret, it's on his way home. I'll just call a cab..."

"Nah, I'll take you," he said, sliding off the bar stool. He fished his wallet out of his back pocket and laid some bills down on the counter.

"After you," he said, a big smile plastered on his face.

Two days went by like this. Chris and I sneaking off to go over maps of the Arklay Mountains and surrounding forest.

I arrived home after a hectic day, only to see Chris was already waiting for me. He had parked his truck out back and let himself in. He had also ordered us Chinese.

"Hey," he said when I came in the front door.

"Hey, smells good. Thanks."

"Heard you had a rough one today," he said, twisting off the top of a long neck and handing it to me. I took it with a sad smile on my face.

"Thirteen year old girl, her friend and their babysitter. What thirteen year old girls want to go hiking?" My voice cracked as I finished speaking. I set my beer down and put my hand over my eyes. They were just kids. They had just started living.

"You'll catch the bastard Liv," Chris nodded, his brown eyes boring into mine.

"I've got half a mind to shut the whole fucking park down," I snapped, my anger boiling over.

"Heard through the grapevine you and Owen aren't agreeing on some things," he commented after a few seconds.

I snorted.

"He thinks these killings are occult related. You've read all the evidence, checked out the reports. Does any of this seem ritualistic to you?"

"He's just working an angle Liv," he offered.

"It's the wrong fucking one Chris! He's wasting time and resources making us chase down creeps and freak shows with this shit in their collars. And meanwhile people are dying. Kids are dying. Being eaten alive."

"Maybe..."

"Five days, seven bodies. Maybe more. That whole area should be taped off, we should have cadaver dogs, FBI, the freaking national guard, something! But instead I have to sit with my thumb up my ass, and wait for more innocent people to die. How the fuck am I supposed to do that?"

He was silent for some moments before coming forward and pulling me into a hug which I gratefully returned.

"I know it's bad now, and you feel like there's no coming back from it, but you will find the people responsible for this, and they will pay."  
I nodded my head against his chest before stepping back.

"Thanks Chris," I smiled up at him. Who knew a favor would start the formation of rock solid friendship.

"No problem Liv," he grinned. "We better eat up before the food gets to cold."  
I followed him into my den where we watched the news and ate in relative silence.

"I've got to ask you something, it's been bothering me for years now," Chris finally spoke.

"Hmm, what's that?"

"You beat my track records in high school, and almost took the best time in physical conditioning from me this year. What gives?"

I laughed.

"Okay, this is going to sound really silly. Remember, when you were a senior in high school, and Claire and I were just entering the seventh grade. You broke the record for the fastest time in the 5 meter dash, and we had that big block party to celebrate. Claire and I overheard you telling Todd Davies that you knew you would win, because the only other person close to you in speed was Kristy Waters, and there was no way you could ever lose to a girl."

The look on Chris's face made me think he was remembering.

"So...what, you two vowed revenge for me being a dumb teenager?"

"Pretty much. Claire and I joined in all the sports you did, baseball, basketball, track, archery. We thought for sure you would notice, and when you didn't it became this huge inside joke. It's still going on. Claire beat your ASVAB score last year on a whim."

He tipped his head back and laughed. I laughed too.

"That's why you wouldn't give up, man I was sure you were going to kick my ass in the ring."

"Believe me I was trying to, but in CQC you got me."

"And beer drinking."

"And beer drinking."  
"And wilderness knowledge."  
"There is that too."

"Whole bunch of stuff really."  
"Don't get ahead of yourself. Peeing while standing isn't an accomplishment."  
This caused him to laugh and slightly choke on his beer. After the laughter died down, he turned so he was facing me on the couch.

"How is Claire?"

I took in a deep breath and set my beer down on the coffee table.

"She's good. She really likes her school, has lots of friends. We get together on the smaller holidays. Spring break, things like that."

Chris nodded. His phone buzzed and his eyebrows came down in confusion as he read what must have been a text.

"Shit," he sighed.

"What's up?"

"Well apparently Forest saw me pulling in here the other night, and again tonight. He thinks we're having a...relationship."  
"Crap."

He nodded.

"It's only a matter of time before your brother gets wind of it."

"What the heck was Forest doing around here anyways? He lives on the other side of town."

"Good point," Chris mumbled as his thumbs flew over the keys on his cell phone. I ran a hand through my long dark brown locks and sighed. Either way this thing plays out, it's got serious consequences.

"What do you want to do Liv?" Chris trained his eyes on me.

"I don't know."

"We either stay quiet and let everyone think what they want, or we come clean."  
"We can't stay quiet Chris. They'll assume we're sleeping together."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"So?"

"So...what about Jill?"

"Jill is my partner, we're...well. I mean..you know." It took every ounce of control I had not to burst out laughing at him.

"That's what I thought."

"It doesn't matter either way because right now she's with someone. So if you want to pretend we're seeing one another secretly, I'm alright with it. And if you want to tell Owen what we've been up too, I'm with you."  
I nodded, thinking it over. Both had plus and minuses in their respective columns.

"Take a day, think it over," he smiled. He knew I wasn't hesitant because it was him I was going to be 'sleeping' with, but that I would, we would, be lying to everyone, mostly my brother.

"I'm tired, and I've got the morning shift. Lunch at Pesto's?" He said as he got up off the couch.

"Yeah, around one?"

"Works. Night," he waved and I waved back. I listened as he let himself out, locking the door behind him.

_7:34 a.m._

_ Guess it's been decided. Forest told Jill, Jill told Rebecca, and Rebecca told everyone. We're dating- Chris_

I squinted at my phones bright screen and cussed under my breath. One less thing I had to worry about.

"_We need to get our stories straight," _I responded. It wouldn't do well to have two completely different stories about how long we've been dating and such. A little ping brought my attention back to my phone.

_Told Jill we got back in touch at Barry's cookout last month. Been seeing each other on the down low ever since. Work for you?_

I thanked my lucky stars, no pun intended, for this man's foresight.

_"Works."_

_ Good, talk it over more at lunch. Wesker is breathing down my neck._

I got up, showered and found I was having a harder time picking out my clothes than usual. Was it because now I was pretending to be someone's girlfriend? I sighed and slipped on a pair of black dress slacks, and one of my nicer, more form fitting sweaters. It was a pale mint color. I carefully applied my makeup like any other day, thin eyeliner on the top lid, winged out a bit, black mascara, light pink lipstick. But unlike any other day, today I put my hair in hot rollers and wore it down in sultry curls. I slipped on my heels, clipped my gun onto my hip, slipped my blazer on and headed out the door.

Then I walked right back inside because my brother was on my doorstep.

"Start talking," he demanded, the moment the door shut behind him.

"What?"

"I have to hear it from some rookie that my kid sister is sleeping with Chris Redfield?"

I sighed.

"We weren't ready to go public with it," I lied.

"How long?"

"Since Barry's barbeque," I tried not to fidget under his heavy stare.

He ran a hand through his hair before pointing a finger at me.

"Interdepartmental relationships are bad news Liv. If you and him are serious about this, then you need to let human resources know."

And he left my house in a huff. I sighed and quick sent Chris a text explaining about what just happened. This whole thing was growing bigger every day. I just wanted to catch a killer. Not remake some lame ass cop soap opera.


End file.
